I read recently the bright colors guiding you (runner vision) can be turned off, but I tend to think the world would look even more plain without them. Kind of a double edged sword forgoing them perhaps. Some of the indoor environs would be very bland without the runner vision, some all white. Even the outdoor colors without RV are fairly monochromatic.
Do you know what the game is about (plot)? Or did you act like every other r-tard on the planet and just look at the visuals? The game is suppost to be bland, white/grey, dingy. It's set in a future Utopia which suppresses the individuality of human kind, kind of like HL2, cept it's not aliens, it's just other humans acting as if they know better. A better reference would be the movie Equilibrium, featuring Christian Bale. I thought that movie rocked, and this game was modeled very closely to it with a similar story line. I would actually think of this movie as "Equilibrium: The Game" done CORRECTLY (unlike every other movie game). Now, i'd LOVE to see you tell me that the monochromatic look is not fitting for this type of game, what kind of BS you'd have to pull out your ass to make it sound right.
Equilibrium: "Utopia", very monochromatic, post WW3, and very uniform
Half-Life 2: "Utopia", very dingy, post war, conformity required to 'live'
Mirror's Edge: "Utopia", very dingy, monochromatic, conformity required
I forget Mirror's Edge plot, but I know it's something like both the previously mentioned movie and game. It's visual "blandness" is totally within spec.
BTW, i've been watching this game since it's formal announcement about a year or so ago. Forgot the name of it for a while and just saw it pop up into my radar again, pointed it out to my friend who LOVES these ideas of what the future may become, so I don't have to stay on top of it anymore.